(Eagle News) — At least 50 US military personnel have been injured in the last Iran missile strike on Jan. 8, and all of them have been diagnosed with traumatic brain injury, the latest statement from Pentagon said.
The new figure showed an increase of 16 from the last number of 34 cases that Pentagon had released.
Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Thomas Campbell gave the details in a statement.
“As of today, 50 U.S. service members have been diagnosed with TBI,” he said.
“Of these 50, 31 total service members were treated in Iraq and returned to duty, including 15 of the additional service members who have been diagnosed since the previous report,” Campbell said.
He said that “18 service members have been transported to Germany for further evaluation and treatment.”
“This is an increase of one service member from the previous report. As previously reported, one service member had been transported to Kuwait and has since returned to duty,” the statement added.
The latest statement is the third time the Pentagon has updated its figures of injured military personnel.
The military had said on Friday that 34 troops were injured in the strike on the Ain al-Asad base in western Iraq on January 8.
President Donald Trump had initially said no Americans were hurt by the missiles, and Democrats later accused him of trying to downplay the injuries.
Iran fired on Iraqi bases housing US troops in retaliation for an American drone attack that killed Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani in Baghdad, raising fears of war.
Campbell said that the numbers could still change.
“As stated previously, this is a snap shot in time and numbers can change,” he said. “We will continue to provide updates as they become available.”
At the time of the strike most of the 1,500 US soldiers at the base had been in bunkers, after advance warning from superiors.
(with a report from Agence France-Presse)